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Sewer overflows in Chalk Hill due to heavy rainfall

People in Chalk Hill, Watford, have encountered a messy problem over the last few weeks. Sewer flooding, because of heavy rainfall, has meant that raw sewage has been flowing from a manhole cover.

The heavy rainfall seen in the area over the last two weeks has seen a manhole cover in Bushey Arches leak raw sewage across the road, creating a hazard for local residents and shop owners.

The problem was attended to promptly by Thames Water, who sent a tanker equipped with pumping equipment to remove the excess sewage.

One of the local shop owners spoke in the Watford Observer, he said:

“There are two manholes and when it rains, sewage comes out of one and is washed down the road by water from the other. Then the cars spread it all around.

“At 7am a tanker was parked with a man asleep in it, blocking the road and causing gridlock in the town. They eventually started pumping the water out.

“Pedestrians trying to cross the road were having to dodge traffic and paddle through raw sewage.

“The infrastructure is 100 years old and when the flats around the corner are finished there will be 50 more toilets being flushed into the sewers.”

When drains overflow, sometimes the old sewage infrastructure is at fault and sometimes overflowing sewage is caused by drainage pipe blockages, which need to be removed for the drains to work correctly again.